The SF Giants are stuck with a catcher situation that offers very little room to maneuver, and Daniel Susac is right at the center of it.
Susac’s first taste of the majors looked electric. He opened his career with 11 hits in 23 at-bats, and for a moment it seemed like the Giants might have found a quick answer behind the plate. But that burst has given way to a long slide, and the club does not appear to have an easy way out.
Because Susac was selected away from the A’s in the Rule 5 draft, he remains tied to those rules. The Giants acquired him in the offseason in a trade with the Minnesota Twins, but if they want to move on from him, they would have to offer him back to the A’s unless they can create the kind of catching depth that makes another path possible.
That is where the problem gets even messier. The upper minors do not offer much help, with Adrián Sugastey likely the most capable defender available, though he would bring little offense. On the active roster, the Giants have Susac, Jesús Rodríguez, and Drew Cavanaugh, but none of those options has fully solved the issue.
Susac’s numbers have cratered since that hot start. Over his last 106 plate appearances, he has posted a .487 OPS.
Overall, the rookie backstop is hitting .250/.297/.319 with zero home runs, 15 RBI, and six runs in 130 plate appearances. He also has a 4.6 percent walk rate, a 23.1 percent strikeout rate, and a .069 ISO.
There have been two stints on the injured list mixed into that stretch, which matters when looking at the full picture. Even so, the underlying offensive profile has not offered much encouragement.
Susac is an aggressive hitter, so a low walk rate is not surprising, and that was a point the A’s wanted him to improve during his time in the organization. But the power production has not shown up either.
His bat speed is 68.8 MPH and his average exit velocity is 86.3 MPH, both well below-average markers for raw power.
The Giants had already made one major bet at catcher when they shipped Patrick Bailey to the Cleveland Guardians. At the time, Eric Haase was off to a strong start and Jesús Rodríguez’s bat was showing some promise, and the Giants were clearly looking for more offense from the position.
Bailey’s defense was not enough to keep him in the picture for them. That decision may look short-sighted now, because Susac has struggled, Rodríguez has had issues behind the plate, and the organization may not have a clean answer at catcher on the roster.
Rodríguez has been the best of the group offensively, with a .713 OPS in 51 plate appearances, but the Giants remain hesitant to use him regularly behind the plate because he still has a long way to go before he can be a passable major league catcher. Cavanaugh has looked capable in limited action, and his at-bat quality has been the best of the trio, though the overall results have not been much better.
If the Giants were to part with Susac, Rodríguez would likely take on a much bigger role. Right now, though, that does not seem to be the direction they want to go. So for the moment, the Giants may have no real move to make except to wait and hope Susac can turn his second half around.
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